Crisis Convergence in America & the Global Rise of Authoritarianism

Crisis Convergence in America & the Global Rise of Authoritarianism :  The COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder and deepening anxieties about domestic stability in the lead up to the 2020 U.S. presidential elections have brought into focus the unprecedented challenges posed by digital disruption and the global rise of authoritarianism. The convergence of crises in the United States has also sparked a long-overdue debate about the connections between inequality, colonial and Cold War legacies, and American exceptionalism in international affairs, prompting some to ask whether the United States is not only in decline but on the verge of becoming a fragile or even failed state. And all this is happening while Great Power competition between Russia and the United States is fast escalating tensions worldwide.  

Candace Rondeaux is a New America senior fellow and professor of practice teaching for the MA in Global Security program. Rondeaux has been digging into all of this and more. A new report she wrote on Russian mercenaries and a war crime in Syria has prompted new insights into the rise of Russian backed transnational white supremacist groups recently sanctioned by the U.S. and their growing popularity in Europe and North America. Tune in to hear more about all this and talk about what this all means for the future of war.

To see a recent example of Candace Rondeaux's work, you can read this New America report.